The Kentucky Game

Auburn 37...University of Kentucky 34

Teresa, Matt and I took a roundabout way to see this football game. We flew into Louisville Wednesday afternoon and after visiting an Irish pub and picking up Martha (nevermind), we piled into Bob's car and headed to Indiana . Why not throw away a little money.

Thursday afternoon, we all took Martha back to work in Louisville and after a little sightseeing, we toured the Hillerich & Bradsby "Louisville Slugger" bat factory. Later, we headed back to Belterra...why not throw away a little more money.

Friday morning found us on the road to Lexington for opening day at Keeneland . We had lunch in the Phoenix room and placed a few wagers on the horses...why not throw away a little more money. Did I mention that we never saw a cloud while we were on our trip. The weather was beautiful. After driving back to Louisville, we had a wonderful dinner at Pat's Steakhouse . Stuffed, we headed back to Martha's to prepare for the C-A-T-S...Cats, Cats, Cats.

Saturday morning, Teresa looked over at a clock in the bedroom and expressed, as only Teresa can, that we were late. We rushed around getting everything ready and When Bob cranked the car, the clock said 9:30. The clock in the bedroom was two hours fast. Oh, well, back to Lexington we went. It was another perfect day weather wise. We tailgated across the street from Commonwealth Stadium, Tony and Jill joined us from Pennsylvania and we met new friends from around the Southeast. The game was a nail-biter, nothing new about that! The good cats won the scrap and the other cats only have a month until basketball season.

Behind The Head player of the game...Cam Newton. Cam put up some unbelievable numbers: 198 yards rushing with 4 touchdowns and 210 yards passing.

Runnerup...Wes Byrum. Wes had 3 field goals, including the game clincher with no time left as well as 4 PATs.

Belterra Casino on the Ohio River. This is taken from the Belterra Hotel.

Some of you may remember this guy. Right down the street is a big bat.

I meant a Biiiiiig Bat!

Every major leaguer that signs a contract with Hillerich & Bradsby to use a Louisville Slugger gets their signature fixed on the wall of the museum.

Now you've seen it, shutup about it. Teresa, me, Bob and Matt with Keeneland's final turn in the background.

There were no RV's in the infield...

We weren't near the paddock, we were in the paddock! I have the shoes to prove it!

Tailgating in the Bluegrass.

When do we eat?!? There is only one Bobby K!

Our hosts for the day's festivities: the Kayrouz family. Bob (in the white hat) drove us what seemed to be 1000 miles between the casino, Louisville, Keeneland, and Lexington. Thanks, Bob!

Commonwealth Stadium has grown up over the years. It has always been a nice venue. I liked it better when UK was a gimme win!

Right out of the box, Auburn lost Randall Cobb. After last year, you wouldn't think he would be roaming around unescorted. Whether through the air or on the ground, he can beat you and Auburn was down 7-0 shortly after the game started.

As tired of seeing Tex Cobb as I was, Kentucky surely was sick of seeing Cam Newton run up and down the field. These two runs totaled 32 yards and six points. It was now 7-7.

It looked from the final stats that Cam was a one man wrecking crew, he had help. Michael Dyer carried on this play for 27 yards, then Philip Lutzenkirchen had a nice 12 yard reception. However, when Auburn got within smelling distance of the goal line, Cam was the man...14-7.

The Traveling Cam Show continued into the second quarter. This touchdown was only from 5 yards out, but the moves and blocking were impressive...21-7.

Daren Bates dislodged the ball from Derrick Locke and it looked like an easy recover for Mike McNeil (#26). The football took a funny bounce (you can still see it in the second picture in front of McNeil. Craig Stevens (#46) came from the back row to recover the ball.

Just to be kind, Dyer fumbled the ball and got an equally strange bounce. Notice in the second picture how fast Dyer got back to his feet. I thought I had the pictures reversed, but after further review, the order on the web site stands. Auburn retained possession (although I don't know how).

I think if Auburn had taken the football into the endzone after the Dyer fumble/recovery, the game might have been over, but it was far from over as Wes Byrum put Auburn up 24-7.

Kentucky marched back down the field with Cobb throwing to Jordan Aumiller for the final 6 yards. 24-14.

It was obvious at this point that there was a shootout in the making. Auburn continued to do their part as Newton connected with Onterio McCalebb for 23 yards.

The Big Nasty Escort Service (here led by Mike Berry, #66 and Byron Isom #57) put Newton in the endzone for the fourth time to give Auburn a 31-14 lead.

The Wildcats kicked a field goal just before half and during the intermission, the Kentucky drum line performed for the Auburn fans.

Winston Guy leapt in front of a Cam Newton pass intended for Emory Blake to end Auburn's second half opening drive. The chase was on!

Cobb caught a 16 yard pass from Mike Hartline to close the gap to a touchdown...31-24.

All four of these pictures are from the same play, a 26 yard second Wildcat formation run. The picture quality isn't very good, but the pictures are better than Auburn's tackling. Is Randall Cobb really that elusive?

On the next play, Cobb waltzed in from the one yard line. 31-31.

Auburn's march down the field was aided by this thrilling Cam Newton to Darvin Adams pass. Well, it was thrilling when it happened. Darvin dragged several tacklers down the field until he was stopped after 39 yards.

Auburn drove to the Wildcat 2 yard line, then once again called on Wes Byrum to boot a field goal. He put Auburn ahead 34-31.

Darin Bates and Zac Etheridge stopped Cobb before he could get his cape fully extended, but Hartline went right back to Cobb in the endzone. The stifling coverage of Auburn's secondary thwarted the play however. Kentucky's Craig McIntosh kicked the game tying field goal. With the game tied at 34, I turned to Matt and said," We need a 7:31 second drive." 25 years ago, that task wasn't that unusual for an Auburn offense.

After Demond Washington fumbled the UK kickoff and Auburn was pinned on the 7 yard line, Cam cranked it up once again.

I guess if this reverse had worked, I'd have been shocked. What was shocking was seeing Terrell Zachery go one way and the ball go the other. The ball went just far enough (to the boundary line) so that Auburn retained possession. Whew!

The rest of the drive was uneventful and Auburn only had one third down situation. On third and four, Cam got a nice hole on the right side for the first down.

Seven minutes and twenty-nine seconds and 18 plays into the drive, Wes came out and knock in another game winner as the clock ran out. Holy Wildcat, Batman!

Oh, my! 6-0 and headed for a pig roast!

� 2010, David E. Brown